By Steven Lee Myers and Eric Lichtblau
Washington — The State Department’s inspector general (click here) has sharply criticized Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, saying she had not sought permission to use it and would not have received it if she had.
In a report delivered to members of Congress on Wednesday, the inspector general said that Mrs. Clinton “had an obligation to discuss using her personal email account to conduct official business” with officials responsible for handling records and security but that inspectors “found no evidence” that she had requested or received approval from anyone at the department to conduct her state business on a personal email.
The report also said that department officials “did not — and would not — approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business.”...
...It also added new detail about Mrs. Clinton’s motivation for using the private server, which she has said was set up for convenience. In November 2010, her deputy chief of staff for operations prodded her about “putting you on state email or releasing your email address to the department so you are not going to spam.” Mrs. Clinton, however, replied that she would consider a separate address or device “but I don’t want any risk of the personal being accessible.”...
To begin, this is not the FBI. The Inspector General does not have Executive Privilege or the power of the President.
This is the Inspector General of the State Department, not the President of the United States. President Barak Obama was aware of the private account by the virtue of received communications. That reality also applies to the State Department members and the Inspector General and MEMBERS OF CONGRESS as well.
I might point out the Inspector General is saving his own skin in his Congressional Report when he does not mention the fact the NEW law was not in effect during most of her term as Secretary of State.
Once she was using her private server to communicate she would continue to have communications to that server after the law went into force. That means there would have to be an exemption for the Secretary until all her communications could be directed to a different account. Even then there is the issue of extraneous communications that would not make that leap. Her email server would have to remain open regardless of the law to be sure all communications were received.
The security of the USA does not always serve the convenience of Congressional legislation. That is why Executive Privilege exists.
There is also a different reality that is inconvenient to the State Department. There are areas of the world that are not served by the methods of communication used by the State Department. That is why there are many cable/wire communications between people and the State Department and other countries. The private server, no different than major internet providers, do have access to these countries.
There is the fact all other State Department Secretaries before Hillary Clinton used private internet accounts. These Secretaries didn't have a law dropped in their laps while they were serving the USA. The law today is used by the majority of department personnel, however, to enact that law in the middle of the Secretary's service is ridiculous to consider. The law should have been enacted in a method that would not effect established methods and after the former Secretary ended her term.
Yes, I am saying the Congress wrote a bad law as to when it would be taking effect. The US State Department is not the average internet user and cannot turn to a different account on a dime and that is the reality no one talks about. The Congress made the entire issue of communication, especially with the State Department, difficult to comply.
This is a non-issue that if enforced would have compromised the Secretary's service and/or the security she operated her State Department at the pleasure of the President.
Secretary Clinton did not compromise the security of the USA, her own security or her staff but, actually protected it by maintaining continuity.
...It also added new detail about Mrs. Clinton’s motivation for using the private server, which she has said was set up for convenience. In November 2010, her deputy chief of staff for operations prodded her about “putting you on state email or releasing your email address to the department so you are not going to spam.” Mrs. Clinton, however, replied that she would consider a separate address or device “but I don’t want any risk of the personal being accessible.”...
To begin, this is not the FBI. The Inspector General does not have Executive Privilege or the power of the President.
This is the Inspector General of the State Department, not the President of the United States. President Barak Obama was aware of the private account by the virtue of received communications. That reality also applies to the State Department members and the Inspector General and MEMBERS OF CONGRESS as well.
I might point out the Inspector General is saving his own skin in his Congressional Report when he does not mention the fact the NEW law was not in effect during most of her term as Secretary of State.
Once she was using her private server to communicate she would continue to have communications to that server after the law went into force. That means there would have to be an exemption for the Secretary until all her communications could be directed to a different account. Even then there is the issue of extraneous communications that would not make that leap. Her email server would have to remain open regardless of the law to be sure all communications were received.
The security of the USA does not always serve the convenience of Congressional legislation. That is why Executive Privilege exists.
There is also a different reality that is inconvenient to the State Department. There are areas of the world that are not served by the methods of communication used by the State Department. That is why there are many cable/wire communications between people and the State Department and other countries. The private server, no different than major internet providers, do have access to these countries.
There is the fact all other State Department Secretaries before Hillary Clinton used private internet accounts. These Secretaries didn't have a law dropped in their laps while they were serving the USA. The law today is used by the majority of department personnel, however, to enact that law in the middle of the Secretary's service is ridiculous to consider. The law should have been enacted in a method that would not effect established methods and after the former Secretary ended her term.
Yes, I am saying the Congress wrote a bad law as to when it would be taking effect. The US State Department is not the average internet user and cannot turn to a different account on a dime and that is the reality no one talks about. The Congress made the entire issue of communication, especially with the State Department, difficult to comply.
This is a non-issue that if enforced would have compromised the Secretary's service and/or the security she operated her State Department at the pleasure of the President.
Secretary Clinton did not compromise the security of the USA, her own security or her staff but, actually protected it by maintaining continuity.
